US Slaps Fresh Sanctions on ICC as Israel Welcomes Move to Shield Netanyahu

The United States has issued a new round of sanctions against the International Criminal Court, drawing swift condemnation from the United Nations and the European Union. Israel, by contrast, has welcomed the move.

The penalties are the latest escalation in a standoff that began after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza. Al Jazeera's Inside Story framed the sanctions as part of a broader question: whether Washington's pressure campaign could cripple the court itself.

A pattern, not an isolated act

This is not the first time Washington has turned sanctions against the court. During his first term, President Donald Trump's administration sanctioned then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in 2020 over her investigation into alleged US and allied conduct in Afghanistan. Those sanctions were lifted under President Joe Biden, only for a similar campaign to resume after the court moved against Israeli officials.

In 2025, the US sanctioned current ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan following the warrants issued for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The new measures reported this week extend that pressure further, though the specific individuals and mechanisms targeted in this latest round were not detailed in Al Jazeera's report.

The UN and EU have condemned the sanctions, according to Al Jazeera, though the network's report did not include specific statements from either body. Both institutions have previously defended the ICC's independence as a matter of principle, arguing that sanctioning judges and prosecutors for pursuing cases undermines the international rules-based order that Washington itself claims to champion elsewhere.

Why it matters

The ICC has no police force. It relies on member states to arrest suspects and on the diplomatic weight of the international system to make its warrants meaningful. A sustained US sanctions campaign, targeting the court's leadership, its funding, and potentially its staff, threatens to hollow out that leverage entirely.

For Israel, the stakes are direct. Netanyahu remains the subject of an outstanding ICC warrant, meaning any member state that arrests him would be obligated to hand him over to The Hague. US sanctions on the court raise the cost of cooperation for allies and complicate the court's ability to function at all, effectively insulating Israeli officials from a legal process that dozens of countries have signed onto.

Al Jazeera's Inside Story convened human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice, Republicans Overseas UK chairman Greg Swenson, and former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth to debate the sanctions and their consequences for the court's future. Their specific positions were not detailed in the available broadcast summary.

What is clear from the public record is the pattern: each time the ICC has moved against Israeli conduct, Washington has moved against the ICC.